Scott noted earlier President Trump’s disgust with the condition of the captives that Hamas has most recently released. Now Trump has followed up by demanding that Hamas release the hostages–all of them–by noon on Saturday. High noon, one is tempted to say:
President Trump warned the Hamas terror group Monday night to release all remaining hostages by noon Saturday, or he would allow Israel to cancel the ongoing cease-fire and “let hell break out” in the Middle East.
“As far as I’m concerned, if all of the hostages aren’t returned by Saturday at 12 o’clock — I think it’s an appropriate time — I would say, cancel it and all bets are off and let hell break out,” the president told reporters in the Oval Office, without specifying what time zone the deadline would apply to.
“I’d say they ought to be returned by 12 o’clock on Saturday. And if they’re not returned — all of them, not in dribs and drabs, not two and one and three and four and two – by Saturday at 12 o’clock. And after that, I would say, all hell is going to break out.”
Will Trump’s threat work? And if it doesn’t, will he follow through? I don’t know the answer to the first question, but I think the answer to the second is Yes. Trump knows that his strength in foreign affairs comes from credibility, and his credibility is lost if he makes idle threats. See: Barack Obama and the “red line” in Syria.
So if I were running Hamas, I would release the hostages. But that counterfactual is so extreme that it is probably no guide.
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